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THE RELUCTANT TRAINER |  |
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C Y H I L D E B R A N D T Silicon Valley Chapter |
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In the last issue, I talked about starting up Web-based training (WBT) by developing a simple low-tech course, and I presented some case studies from people who have done that. The message I've tried to convey is that WBT does not have to be a glitzy, expensive production to be effective, and it can be thought of as a work in progress.
In order for WBT to be effective, you have to have a good sense of what it is that makes a course effective in your environment, and one of the best ways to develop that sense is to experience and analyze other courses that are available online. In this article I will point you to some sites that offer courses that you can try out for yourself.
Last year I was a panel member in a seminar on Web-based Training offered
by the Silicon Valley chapter of the International Society of Performance
Improvement (ISPI), led by Michael Levick and Janeen Rossi. The materials
and resources used in that course are still available online and make
an excellent set of reference materials. You can access them by going
to http://www.breakthebarriers.com
and clicking the link to WBT
Design Workshop Materials from the Learn section. Just in case this
site is not available for the duration that this article is, I will provide
the links to the courses here. If you like, you can use the WBT
Evaluation Checklist that was provided at the seminar.
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HP
SAM Simulation This is an IT training course that teaches basic job skills by simulating the work environment. It starts out with a memo from the manager asking you, the IT professional, to accomplish several tasks. The simulation comes complete with unhelpful coworkers. Try it yourself. Does the realistic setting work well? Is the navigation simple and not distracting? Is the information easy to find? Are the goals clear? Is it enjoyable? Could this information be easily accessed after the course is finished? Is there opportunity for feedback and interaction with an instructor? Is there a chance to review or measure what has been learned? Notice how simple the page design is. It would be easy and fairly inexpensive to develop HTML pages like this, and all the student needs to view them is a standard browser.
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Learn2 Upgrade
Your RAM This course provides information on how to upgrade RAM in your PC. All the questions above apply to this course as well. You might consider the courses at this site to be more of an employee performance support system (EPSS). The course topics are procedures that you can access whenever you need to perform that particular task. In that respect, the measurement of success is whether you accomplish what you are trying to do. If your information is mostly procedures-based, this type of EPSS solution could be more ideal than training.
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Web
Page Design: Graphic Resources for Non-Artists You might also argue that this is not a course but just an information page. What is the difference between the two? How is this page effective? What would make it more effective?
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Working
Safely With Blood and Blood-Borne Pathogens Refresher Note that this is a refresher course, so it is expected that students have already grasped the concepts. Is it effective in helping students brush up on the information? This course includes a test. Is the test easy to take and effective? Safety courses are ideal candidates for WBT, since part of the purpose of the training is to provide proof of mastery to a specified criterion. Since true-false and multiple choice tests questions are often used with this type of testing, the tests are easy to develop using the form types in HTML.
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Financial Ratios This course teaches how to calculate various types of financial ratios. Since calculation is involved, immediate feedback can be provided as to whether the answer is right or wrong, without the need for an instructor. Is the feedback effective in this case? Is the navigation clear? Are the graphics informative, entertaining, or distracting?
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Demonstration:
Sexual Harassment in the Workplace This course has an audio stream that parallels the text. When I tried to access it this time, I could not get the audio portion to work, and, because of that, I could not get into the course. See if you have better luck, but if you don't, take it as a lesson on the dangers of requiring anything more than a standard browser to take a course. Plug-ins such as Real Player or Flash, while free, may require a student to go to another site for download, distract from the purpose of the course, and in the worst case lead to failure to view the course.
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The
Semiconductor Manufacturing Process This might also be argued to be something less than a course. There is little course guidance and no test. However, it is a master example of how effective the visual display of information can be. Does it achieve its purpose of conveying information in a structured fashion? Are the graphics effective? How do you like the navigation?
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Landview III
Tutorial This course uses DHTML to achieve its animation. This imposes some restrictions on which browser versions can access it, but it does not require a plug-in. In this case, is the animation effective in teaching the concepts? Did you feel that the animation is too fast/too slow/too passive? If you are training on a product such as software that changes frequently, will this be worth the extra effort to maintain it?
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DigitalThink
Course Sampler DigitalThink courses are renowned for being based on solid instructional design. You can try out a sampler course and portions of several other courses by registering at the site. Of all the course examples I've given you, this may be the most prototypical instructional course, in terms of laying out goals, presenting material, and offering opportunities to practice, review, and test your knowledge. Do you find this boringly predictable or reassuringly familiar? There are flashier graphics and animation with a transcript button that presents the same text in simple format for challenged browsers or for printing purposes. What value do the flashier graphics and animation add to make them worth the development cost?
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Avoid the
Barriers to Successful WBT This course is worth the effort to register and log in. (And note how formidable a login page can appear.) The course is presented Mentorware, a WBT management software tool that provides a shell for login, registration tracking, navigation, and testing that is consistent across courses. It allows easy development and a consistent look and feel to courses. The course is an excellent overview of how to design and implement a successful WBT program in your company. Does the course itself follow the principles of good design and navigation? |
The purpose of this article is to help you use your own experience to start to get a feel for how a WBT course that is simple in design and execution can be effective. As I discussed in the last column, the success of a WBT course depends on whether it meets the needs of the people who take it, whether it works at least as well as the instructor-led programs that you are currently implementing, and whether it is more cost-effective to develop and maintain. The success of these sites depends not on technical execution but rather on solid needs assessment and good instructional and information design.
My thanks to Michael Levick and Janeen Rossi for gathering and sharing the information upon which this article is based. Michael is a Senior Instructor/Course Developer at Annuncio Software and co-chair of the High Technology Media for Learning (HTML) Special Interest Group of the Silicon Valley Chapter of the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD). Janeen is a partner and owner in the e-learning consulting firm eLearning Objects, based in Redwood City, California.
Summer 2000
Volume 3, # 3